MALTA — GlobalFoundries' prospects have brightened now that it has landed a major customer.

The company, which is building a $4.2 billion computer chip factory in Saratoga County, will start making chips for STMicroelectronics N.V. in 2010 at its German chip fab.

Based in Geneva, Switzerland, STMicro is the fifth-largest semiconductor company in the world, with nearly $10 billion in revenue last year.

The announcement is welcome news for GlobalFoundries, which is seeking to swiftly become a major player as a "foundry" that makes chips for other companies. It was spun off from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. in March to take advantage of the growing use of foundries, most of which are located in Asia. AMD became GlobalFoundries' first customer, but industry analysts have said that snagging new customers would be the real challenge.

"It's very significant," said Jim McGregor, principal analyst with In-Stat, a research firm based in Scottsdale, Ariz. "The first one's the proof point, showing you can do it."

McGregor said that getting the first non-AMD customer was one of the milestones the company needed to reach, along with breaking ground on Fab 2. The company did that on Friday at its 223-acre property at Luther Forest Technology Campus in Malta.

STMicro offers a variety of chips, and GlobalFoundries will produce the chips designed by STMicro for use in wireless phones, handheld devices and consumer electronics.

GlobalFoundries spokesman Travis Bullard wouldn't reveal the terms of the deal with STMicro or how many chips will be produced under the agreement.

"Specific numbers of product are not disclosed, but I can say that STMicro will purchase a significant portion of contract manufacturing from GlobalFoundries over the life of this agreement," he said. "Beyond that, we can't provide any specifics at this time."

Fab 2 is scheduled to be completed in Malta in 2012. But it's unclear if any of the STMicro chips will be made in New York.

"The product mix will be determined closer to when the fab comes on-line, based on global market needs," Bullard said.

Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst with Insight 64, a technology consulting firm in Saratoga, Calif., says that in many ways, STMicro is a perfect customer for GlobalFoundries, which will be able to make the chips at its existing facility in Dresden, Germany, which includes two separate fabs.

Not only is that close to STMicro's headquarters in Switzerland, but STMicro has been moving toward outsourcing more of its manufacturing to foundries, business that GlobalFoundries has been trying to attract.

"This really says that that message resonates with the companies they are targeting," Brookwood said.

AMD spun off its two fabs in Dresden to GlobalFoundries as part of a joint venture with an investment fund owned by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi known as the Advanced Technology Investment Co. ATIC has promised to invest between $3.5 billion and $6 billion in GlobalFoundries to expand its manufacturing capabilities and build Fab 2.

Analysts say that GlobalFoundries will need more customers to make Fab 2 viable, although the STMicro announcement is a big step toward that.

"It shows the company ramping quickly as a commercial entity, filling its fabs — which is has to do to make the economics work out — and attracting non-AMD customers," said Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, a technology consulting firm in Concord, Mass. "It's good for AMD, too, which has a piece of GlobalFoundries and benefits from any upside there."

Larry Rulison can be reached at 454-5504 or by e-mail at lrulison@timesunion.com.